Precious Support Services

Updated 29 April 2021

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of five inspectors. Two inspectors visited the service on 8 April 2021. Another three inspectors gathered information via telephone conversations and email. Inspectors spoke with people and their relatives to gain feedback about service and had telephone conversations with staff.

Service and service type

Precious Support Service is registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living housing; this inspection only looked at people's personal care services. The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. The registered manager and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. The director (provider) was also the registered manager, and for the purposes of this report will be referred to as the 'registered manager'.

Notice of our inspection

Our inspection was announced. We gave short notice of our visit on 7 April 2021 to the registered manager. Notice of our visit was given because the service was inspected during the coronavirus pandemic and we wanted to be sure we were informed of the service's coronavirus risk assessment for visiting healthcare professionals before we entered the building and to ensure the provider was available for their inspection. Inspection activity commenced on 7 April 2021 and ended on 14 April 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we had received about the services. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

During our on-site visit to the service, we spoke with the registered manager. We reviewed a range of records, including 11 people's care plans. We reviewed medicine records for four people. We looked at records relating to the management of the service, including audits and systems for managing feedback and records of when checks were made in the quality of the care provided. During our off-site work we spoke with eight people who used the service and six relatives of people who used the service. We spoke with six members of staff.

After the inspection

We reviewed additional documentation we had requested from the provider.

Updated 29 April 2021

About the service

Precious Support Service is a domiciliary care agency. People had individual packages of care which ranged from 24-hour care to shorter care calls several times per day. At the time of this inspection Precious Support Service supported 42 people with personal care. This included younger and older adults who required support due to learning disabilities, autism or older age. Other services were offered to people by the provider such as help with shopping and cleaning, but these are not regulated activities and therefore we did not look at these.

People's experience of using this service and what we found

Relatives felt their loved one was safe with staff supporting them in their own homes. Staff had been trained to protect people from the risks of abuse and understood how to keep people safe and embraced team working to reduce potential risks to people. Infection control procedures were in place to protect people from the spread of infectious disease and COVID-19.

People and their relatives were involved in initial assessments which took place before packages of care commenced. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests. The provider's policies and systems supported this practice.

People received care from staff who were trained, motivated and supported by a registered manager who led the staff team to provide the best care they could. People using the service benefited from a well led service. Partnership working enabled people to maintain their wellbeing. Quality monitoring systems and processes were in place to provide information on how the service could be continuously improved.

Rating at last inspection: At the previous inspection in September 2019 the service was rated Good in all areas. At this inspection we have continued to rate the service as Good in all areas.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Why we inspected

We inspected due to possible risk identified through a recent complaint. This was a focussed inspection where we only looked at three key areas.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.